Steve Jobs, so incensed by how similar the first version of Android was to his precious iPhone, vowed to destroy it completely, famously promising to go "thermonuclear" on the platform.

Jobs' successor, Apple CEO Tim Cook, may soon have his own thermonuclear moment if a new report is true about Google's intention to bring Android Wear to iOS. According to The Verge, Google is close to making its wearable platform compatible with the iPhone, possibly for an unveiling at this year's Google I/O developer conference.

Making Android Wear smartwatches compatible with the world's most popular smartphone would be huge boost for Google's wearable strategy, which hasn't exactly lit the wearable world on fire — fewer than 1 million Android Wear devices have actually been sold. Compare that to the 1 billion Android devices shipped in 2014 alone.

The timing would be perfect. Apple has cranked the volume to 11 on the hype machine for the launch of its wrist-mounted darling, the Apple Watch, benefiting all wearables in its wake. The Apple Watch officially goes on sale April 24, and Google I/O is roughly a month later, May 28-29. That lets Google capitalize on the initial excitement for the watch, but also to take advantage of the one key feature it doesn't have: a low price.

As I and others have argued, the Apple Watch is interesting and even useful, but Apple has priced it too high for the incremental benefits it provides. After all, is it really that much easier to create Notes on a watch then it is on a phone?

The Apple Watch's weakness is Android Wear's strength. Devices start at about $150, or less than half the cost of the Apple Watch. Many, if not most customers are very price-conscious, especially for gadgets you don't really need (which describes smartwatches perfectly). People who don't like the idea of spending $349+ every couple of years on a new gadget might warm up to the idea when you slice a couple of C-notes off the price tag.

True, with Android Wear, there'd be no Apple Pay, no Siri, no apps and no semi-creepy sharing of heartbeats. But the primary use of any smartwatch is to feed you notifications on an ultra-convenient display, and Google's budding wearable platform does that with aplomb. Intrepid experimenters have actually already achieved the iPhone-Android Wear connection (without jailbreaking!) so it looks not only technically possible, but relatively easy.

But what about the style, the craftsmanship, the Jony Ive voiceovers? Yes, Android Wear has very little of that (though it's not totally absent), but such accoutrements typically only matter to collectors. If people really cared deeply about it, we would never have stopped wearing watches in the first place.

Given how much cheaper Android Wear devices are than the Apple Watch, there's a chance they could collectively become the most-used smartwatch platform on iPhone. That would be a huge embarrassment for Apple, and it's likely it would do whatever it could to break that compatibility.

That's speculation, of course, but this isn't: The Internet of Things — of which smartwatches are a part — depends on cross-platform capability more than any other format or platform war of the past. Google, Facebook and even Microsoft have shown that they understand that, but Apple, for all of its "Kits," has been far more reluctant to emerge from its walled garden. By design, its products and services won't "just work" with other systems.

In the wearables game, that's a wrongheaded strategy. And it could very well lead to the Apple Watch losing on its home turf.

BONUS: The last Apple Watch gallery you'll ever need to see

The Apple Watch

Apple Watch Home Screen

This app-filled screen, the Home screen, is one of two main interfaces you'll use on the Apple Watch. You use the Digital Crown, along the right edge of the watch, to zoom in and out on the app cluster.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch Digital Crown

It's off-center, but the digital crown is still a big reference to all classic watches that have come before it. A turn of this dial and press of the crown, though, interacts with the screen so you don't have to touch it when you don't want to.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch Design

The Apple Watch band is adjustable and interchangeable with other watch band options. The band slides in and out of the watch and you shorten it by removing pieces.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch Back

The sapphire back protects heart rate and wrist detection sensors.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch in the field

Even though the Apple Watch features a backlit screen, it isn't difficult to see in daylight.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch Styling

Apple Watch is both a smart device and a fashion statement. We found it can live quite nicely alongside other fashionable accessories.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch on the Go

The 42mm model manages to look good on men and women.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch: The Nudge

Apple's wearable is so packed with fitness features that you may leave your Fitbit behind.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Watch

Yes, the watch looks good with a suit. It's also smooth enough that your sleeve and jacket slide right over it, no problem.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Time

Want to see the time on Apple Watch? Just raise your wrist.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Comfort

The rather expensive link band never felt uncomfortable.

Image: Luke Leonard/Mashable

Apple Gold

The price for the Apple Watch Edition starts at $10,000 and, depending on the band, runs as high as $17,000.

Image: Apple

Apple Band Option

This Milanese loop is one of the flashier band looks.

Image: Apple

Apple Sport

The sport models feature aluminum alloys and fluoroelastomer sport bands -- which you can also use with the higher-end models.

Image: Apple

Apple Watch Notifications

You can read text messages, email and make calls, right through the phone.

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